al-overdrive-weddings.com launched

It's taken a while to find the time to organise and prepare for the new site launch, but I can finally announce that I have launched my dedicated wedding photography site - specialising in quirky and vintage inspired weddings.

There has been a stigma attached to wedding photography in the past decade, but with a new generation of empowered couples wanting 'the wedding that suits them and reflects their interests' it has provided many photographers from the areas of fashion and editorial a chance to stretch their creative wings.

I certainly enjoy shooting weddings - it's an honour to be brought in capture someone's special day, and unlike editorial or studio shoots, there is no chance to do a reshoot! As a bonsu I have found it is a very good way to keep my story telling and fast shooting/fast thinking skills honed and fresh.

The above shot is from a wedding I recently covered for a wedding photographer. Interestingly, I didn't actually feel any extra pressure on the day, even though the bride was an experienced and succesful wedding photographer herself. The only 'problem' was that she was itching to get her camera's out too and snap the guests !

you can visit the site here:

al-overdrive-weddings.com

Most of this month so far has been taken up by a mixture of shooting fashion work and various (as of yet unpublished) editorial portraits.

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Sophie Hulme (stop-motion billboard) at Selfridges.

Recently I shot my first animated billboard for upcoming designer Sophie Hulme (both Vogue and Instyle are fans of her exclusive Selfridges ranges). The brief was to shoot the bag and the animated charms (soldiers, planes and a bubble blower to name a few) for use in a dual billboard  in-store. The animation lasts for almost 2 minutes and spans both boards, with items appearing to move between the two.


Despite the scale of the technical challenge we still found time to have fun within on the shoot ; If you watch the video a couple of times you soon notice that the soldiers have their own personalities and quirks as they abseil down the designer's bag and rescue the charms. Instead of using stock images for the bubbles, we shot the bubbles live in the studio, by the end of the shoot we had discovered the secret behind blowing perfect bubbles!

As you can see from the images at the top of the blog, the animation is the focal point of the display, and was designed to catch shopper's attention as they travelled down the escalator. I am lucky to have worked with a great team on this brief and would like to credit Freya Rabet and Sophie Hulme (who managed to sneak a cameo into the animation) for their production skills and hard work, allowing us to complete the shoot in only two days.

You can see more of Sophie's designs at http://sophiehulme.com/






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Finalist in the Royal Academy of Arts 'Eyewitness' Competition

I am pleased to be able to say that my entry to the Royal Academy of Arts (RAA) 'Eyewitness' Photography competition was selected for the final judging stage of the competition. With over 5500 entries I am honoured to have made it so far, and am also taken aback by the quality of the winning submissions.

Below is what Colin Ford CBE (the Curator of Eyewitness exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts) had to say about the competition:

'It has been a delight to be involved with the Royal Academy Eyewitness competition. With such a high quality and quantity of submissions, it has been a tough decision. However, the panel feel the winning images best represent their categories and are contemporary pictures which remain true to the styles of the Hungarian photographers'.

To see the winners work please visit The royal Academy website.

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Recently Released Fashion Sets and Radio 1 Interview

Over the last year I have been enjoying shooting more and more fashion work for clients, and the above images are examples fo work I have shot over summer that the clients have now released from embargo. I'm currently working on a fun and technically difficult fashion set, which should be released early September, so keep your eyes open !

Also, a while ago Radio 1 interviewed me for a programme about tattoos and spoke to me about my role as a photographer, and the show goes live tonight at 9pm.
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Cerebral Ballzy in Terrorizer and Hevy Festival Coverage

Sometimes it is difficult to decide which shoot to pick to write a blog about, this time it is too hard to pick just one so I am going to write about two.

First off is how pleased I am with the results of the Cerebral Ballzy shoot, which was shot for Terrrorizer. The band, Cerebral Ballzy, are getting a lot of attention at the moment and play a fast, loud and hard style that reflects a lot of the early 1980's hardcore and punk. Sticking with that kind of feel we went for a fairly bleak and in-your-face shoot, with a little bit of post-processing to add some drama to the shot. i'm really happy with how the layout worked across two pages, it was initally comissioned as a single page image.

Hevy Festival is held in a zoo on the coast, and has a reputation for being good fun while showcasing a lot of new acts. The Ghost of a Thousand have played the festival before, and I've shot this band numerous times live. However, this was their final show and I wanted to document this rather poignant event. I'm glad to say the guys delivered the goods, making it easy for me to give Rock Sound a strong set of images for the magazine feature. The last photo in this blog update is the final photos of the guys as 'the band' taken, and as you can in the image, it was a fun send off.... the singer described it, "like the wake after a funeral... a bit of a party after the tears". Such a good band, RIP.

You can also see a gallery of the shots from this show here

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Tattoo Revolution Magazine Cover Revealed

You may recognise the lady on the front cover of this magazine from a previous blog blog post. If you are the tpye of person who is interested in 'behind the scenes' of a photo shoot, the previous blog post links to the magazine feature that Practical Photography did on this very shoot so you get to see everything from start to the finished product above.

The magazine feature is now out and can be found in all the usual places (WHSmiths, supermarkets, etc.) as well as direct from the magazine publisher.

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My desk in 'Photo Professional' and Slam Dunk in 'Rock Sound' Magazines.

This post is a mixture of fun, work and working fun. First off, today the latest issue of 'Photo Professional' hits the shelves. They do a light-hearted section called 'office space' where they ask a pro photographer to take a snap of their working environment and to write a brief bit about five things on the desk. It seemed like a bit of fun so I agreed. If you want to know more about what the weird looking ornament on my desk is , you'll have to buy the magazine.

Whoever said,  "Work can't be fun", was in the wrong job. 'Rock Sound' magazine sent me to Slam dunk festival to shoot a variety of the performers. The images were spread over two pages (some form slam Dunk South , and some form Slam Dunk North, where a fellow photographer shoot the other acts). It was nice to see my image of 'Reel Big fish' getting a full page! As you can probably guess from the crowd in the shot, this was taken from behind the stage, and not in the photo pit. It is becoming harder and harder these days to get good access to a band at a show, which is a shame, as this full-page shot shows exactly why getting a different angle can benefit everyone from the band and the PR to the photographer and the publication.

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Interviewed for Tattoo.tv

 

Shortly after I was lucky enough to win the UK Tattoo Industry 'Best Photographer' award for the second year in a row, Tattoo.tv contacted me and asked if I'd be happy to do an interview for their site. Since I love tattoos and the adventures my tattoo related comissions have sent me on, I agreed. Thanks to Alex for taking the time to come up with a list of interesting questions for me, it's certainly not a cut-and-paste tpye interview. If you fancy a five minute read, then click the link below. If you are a budding photographer, or have an interest in what makes my mind tick and my approach to my work, then you will hopefully find it interesting.

The full interview can be found here .

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Anatomy of a Cover Shoot : Feature in Practical Photography

Last month Practical Photography Magazine asked if they could follow me on a shoot and do a "day in the life" feature.

If you ever wanted to know what gear I use on a shoot, or how I run a shoot, then pick up the July 2011 issue to find out! I wondered if I would find it stressful having a photographer following me and a writer ready to turn the shoot into a story. Afterall, I'm usually the one shooting and not the one being photographed! It turns out I didn't have anything to worry about, it didn't feel any different to a shoot where I have an art director, client or creative director and their team on set with me. The shoot itself went well, although typically the one time a piece of gear dies it would be when we are shooting a behind the scenes feature, fortunately a quick swap to my second lighting trigger meant the shoot wasn't slowed down. A good example of why it is important to make sure you bring back-up gear on shoots. The magazine that the cover shot was taken for will be gracing the shelves of WHSmiths in just over a month. Practical Photography also put up a sneak peak behind the scenes gallery too, click through to see more.


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Hyro Da Hero - Press Shots

Last week I was invited to the Rock Sound magazine office to shoot up coming hip-hop artist Hyro Da Hero for an interview. After we finished the 'safe shots' Texas born, California resident Hyro was happy to come outside and shoot some extra frames to get something a little different.

He is playing two sets at Download festival 2011, and I recommend you take the time to check him out. for the music geeks out there, you might be interested to know his live band comprises members of Blood Brothers and At the Drive-in.


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UK Tattoo Industry 'Best Photographer' Award 2011

This weekend I was away shooting in Brighton for the 'Great Escape' music industry expo. Meanwhile, in Liverpool they were holding a huge tattoo convention and the 'UK Tattoo Industry Award' ceremony.
I'm honoured to say that I was awarded 'Best Photographer' for the second year running, and would like to thank everyone who has supported me.

Best yet, the trophy is apparently a skull with an eagle holding a tattoo machine. Which sounds amazing, beats the oscars hands down!

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HMV "My Inspiration" Campaign ; The King Blues.

 

Patience is a virtue. Especially when waiting to see the finished artwork for a major advertising campaign that uses your photos. The 'My Inspiration' series is a pretty cool one. Paul Rees (Editor In Chief, Q Magazine) explains the background to it on the HMV website.....

" One of the great truisms of this business we call music is that musicians are rarely happier than when talking about any musician other than themselves. It has been my experience that not only do they offer up far more in such circumstances, but also with a far greater degree
of interest and insight. Hence the fascination, and the enduring success, of HMV’s My Inspiration series, for it is built on this very foundation.

A second fact the series has highlighted is the power of the written word in music. The pen is
not only mightier than the sword, but at least the equal of the guitar too. Bob Dylan may have brought us the sound of thin, wild mercury and of country rock, and much more of musical import besides, but his stream-of-consciousness poetry and all those acute reflections on the human condition in all its many forms have resonated as loudly with Bono, Paul McCartney and all of his other fellow songwriters who have made him the most cited artist for inspiration. There are wonders aplenty in Dylan’s music, but does anything stop you dead in your tracks with the sheer force of its clarity? Pick any line from, say, Just Like A Woman - “With her fog, her amphetamine and her pearls, she takes just like a woman” will do – and each and every one of them will pull you up, time and time again.

Bowie (to name but one other My Inspiration perennial) brought us Ziggy Stardust and the Thin White Duke, the glacial funk of Station To Station and the white boy soul of Young Americans, but I’d contend he’s summoned forth nothing that will linger longer than Life On Mars’s drop-dead perfect opening line: “It’s a godawful small affair, to the girl with the mousy hair.” So it is with all great songs and songwriters – whatever magic might be conjured musically, it is invariably the words that hold us fast to the tune and come to define our relationship with it.

I came to my own favourite artist, Bruce Springsteen, via a lyric - “The screen door slams, Mary’s dress waves/Like a vision she dances across the porch as the radio plays”, from Thunder Road - that distilled all the earthiness and grandeur and wide-open possibilities of his music into two lines. I suspect you’ll have found your way to your own inspirations through much the same route. "

To find out more about the King Blues and check out their music, visit www.kingblues.net

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The World Wide Photography Gala Awards : Honourable Mention in Beauty

 

I had almost forgotten I had entered this competition. So it was a nice suprise the other day ot receive an email form the organisers of the International Gala Awards to say that one of my images had received and 'Honourable mention' in their competition and was being published in the Gala book "The Beauty Around Us".

The image itself is over a year old, and my fashion work has taken a more produced direction, so it is good to see the image getting recognition in the competion.



Read more about the award here.
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The Subways : Exclusive Live show via Pledge Music

 

Pledge Music is a new kind of business model ; One where the artists ask the fans to pledge a donation towards their goal, with a percentage of the money going to charity too. Indie heroes The Subways decided to make their the new album via the pledge system, fans who supported them would get a special edition of the album and entry to a series of secret intimate gigs.

After recently shooting some press shots for Rocksound with The Subways I was invited to shoot their secret show. I'm really intrigued by this approach ; It certainly means the band will only get to make the album if there is a demand, which must be cool (and a little scary, since the band might feel extra pressure to please the fans). All I know for sure is that the venue was packed and there was the kind of banter between the band and the audience that you usually only get at home shows or on the club circuit. Everyone (including the band) seemed to really enjoy the show and the vibe was one of positivity and fun, could this be the future?

Go see more images from their set click here.

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Cigarette Burns Cinema (and other news)

It's been quiet on the blog, but that doesn't mean things have been quiet here. First off, the exhibition at London Miles (see last blog post), went really well and it was great to see my photographs on display along side so many other artist's work.

Below is my favourite shot from a recent visit the The Rio Cinema to shoot some promotional images for the cult-movie night Cigarette Burns Cinema (check them out, the films they show are some of the greatest trash that you wouldn't know how to find anywhere else). 


I also got to shoot a couple of really awesome events last week..... but until the client's have approved the images I can't post them. All I can say is imagine a church lit only by candles, with a performance involving a female human beat-box, 3 violinists, and organist, guitarist, choir of hooded figures and a guitarist/vocalist. A magical hour of music indeed!



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'Pens and Needles' - London Miles Art Gallery Exhibition.

Recently I was invited to exhibit by London Miles Art Gallery as part of their mixed media 'Pens and Needles - A group exhibition celebrating tattoo art and lifestyle'. This news was made all the more exciting as they gallery has never exhibited photography before; so  Estevan Oriol (USA) and Olli Bery (France) and myself will be the first photographers to have our work displayed.

Details are as below :

Pens and Needles - A group exhibition celebrating tattoo art and lifestyle.

Opening reception: Friday, February 25th 2011. 7pm to 11pm.

"Forget everything you think you know about tattoo art. For the first UK art exhibition of its kind, London Miles invites a selection of the world’s top tattoo artists, documentarians, and enthusiasts to finally liberate us from the last of those scratched on, fading abominations…our manifesto? No more ‘I LOVE MUM’.

London Miles is to take an in-depth look at all forms of tattoo art, lifestyle, and culture. Featuring original artwork, tattoo stencils and photographs, Pens and Needles brings together artists from across the tattoo and contemporary art sectors to shed light on the entire domain of tattoo art: from artists that love tattoos, to tattoo artists that love painting. Alternatively, the photography of documentarian Estevan Oriol – whose client list includes Eminem,  Ludacris, Method Man, and Justin Timberlake – will offer a raw snapshot of Los Angeles street life, one of the world’s most heavily tattooed cities.

The opening night of Pens and Needles will be a unique fiesta of tattoo art with live tattooing taking place in London Miles’s very own pop-up tattoo parlour. The exhibition will document, discuss and most importantly celebrate one of contemporary art’s most burgeoning yet contentious art forms.

Confirmed Artists:  Shawn Barber, Claudia Sabe, Mike Davis, Matt Difa, Xam, Olli Bery, Daniel Albrigo, Holy Fox, Jeff Gogue, Tom Bagshaw, Alex Young, Shad, Jondix, Jee Sayalero, Gustavo Rimada, Cate Rangle, Estevan Oriol, Lea Nahon, Bart Bingham, Rico, Horishion, Issac Fainkujen, Nick Baxter, Nick Colella, Alex Binnie, Al Overdrive, Nicola Andrews, Michael Forbes, Kerry Evans, William Zdan, Adam Jackson."

To read more click on the flyer, or to be placed on the online preview list- please email :  Sales@londonmiles.com

For directions to the gallery click here

London Miles Gallery
Westbourne Studios.
242 Acklam road. Unit 303.
London. W10 5JJ
email: info@londonmiles.com
phone: (44) 020 3170 8618

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Doctor Lodder and Inclusion in The Royal Photographic Society Exhibition 2011-2012

I'm excited to be able to announce that the above image has been selected by the judges at the Royal Photographic Society to be included in their biennial touring exhibition. It is an honour to have had my image selected to represent the work of the RPS for the next two years as the exhibition tours. Also, since the above image was taken Matt was awarded his Doctorate in Art History (specifically studying tattoo culture and art) and is now Doctor Lodder. He was recently invited to give a talk on his research in New York City to his peers.


The first showing of this Exhibition will take place at Smethwick Photographic Society HQ, The Old Scholl House, Oldbury, W Midlands B69 2AS, from 3 – 27 February 2011 ( www.smethwickphotographic.co.uk ).
The Exhibition will be officially opened by RPS President, Rosemary Wilman Hon.FRPS at 7pm on Thursday 10^th February.



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'Smoking Hearts' tour poster

In the course of my work I get to meet a lot of bands that I haven't heard before. Last year Smoking Hearts were supporting when I shot the infamous Andrew WK show that made it into Rock Sounds' Top ten gigs of the year.
They later contacted me to shoot their promo pictures for the new line-up and stronger sound. Finally, the record is ready and the tour is booked so I am able to share with you the tour poster. you can check out some of the band's songs by clicking on the link in the below image.

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A Good Start to 2011 and a Challenge to YOU

The above photograph is of Mike Cooper, a 'Vans Clothing' sponsored BMXer, goofing off in-between takes on a shoot back in summer. The weather now as I look outside of my window couldn't be much different.

Welcome to 2011, I hope you all had a good break over the festive period.
I was thinking about to do a 'highlights of 2010' post, but decided you have probably read enough of them already.I was blessed with good fortune last year, and had many opportunities that I thought no longer existed, such as being flown to the USA to do magazine shoots. I've been lucky enough to have loyal clients who I continue to enjoy working with. I've also met, and worked with, a range of famous names and not come across a single ego that got in the way of making good photographs. Had several magazine covers and got far more press attention than I could have predicted (all of it good I must add).

I'm currently in the process of finished off some new concept shoots and this is why I won't be updating the content of this site until Feb.

As a nice end to 2010, The Royal Photographic Society (RPS) contacted me to tell me that the judges selected one of my images to be part of their touring showcase exhibition. Clearly this is an honour as they only select 100 images for this two year exhibition. It believe it opens in about 8 weeks time, and when I have more information I will be posting more here.

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As a kick-start to the new year, I challenge you to tell me what your favourite image that you took in 2010 is, and why? If you are feeling brave, and it is online, link to it too. Just for fun.
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